AITOR KARANKA is hoping to celebrate his first anniversary as Middlesbrough’s head coach with his side at the top of the Championship table – and the Spaniard admits he cannot have imagined achieving so much in such a short space of time.

A year ago next Thursday, Karanka inherited a side languishing in 16th position as he was appointed as Boro’s first overseas boss, and a defeat in his opening game at Leeds United saw the Teessiders tumble into the Championship’s bottom five places.

One year on, and if Boro beat league leaders Bournemouth at the Riverside this afternoon, they are guaranteed to be on top of the table throughout the forthcoming international break.

The turnaround has been remarkable, and even though Karanka was always confident he could improve Boro’s position, he readily admits he did not expect their progress to be quite as swift.

“It’s difficult to think about everything that has happened,” said the Boro boss. “If someone had said to me one year ago, with the table the way it was then, that we were going to be in this position now, I couldn’t have imagined it.

“It was my first job, and the team was not in a very good moment. But one year later, and even though we are not quite at the top of the table, we are fighting to be in the highest position. One year later, and the club is improving and increasing. At the time, it wasn’t very good. But now everything – the club, the players and the fans – are in a better position.  

“It was always my objective, and I still have all the same aims today. I am still thinking step by step, and not about the end of the season, but I am happy with how far we have come.”

Karanka’s appointment last November was a surprise, with precious little known about the former defender other than that he had previously been Jose Mourinho’s assistant at Real Madrid.

That relationship has clearly been crucial to Boro’s progress, with Kenneth Omeruo and Patrick Bamford both playing key roles while on loan from Chelsea, but as time has progressed, the 41-year-old’s strengths as both a coach and man-manager have become increasingly apparent.

His meticulous planning and preparation is regularly cited as a key part of his make-up, so it should be no surprise that when he agreed to take over from Tony Mowbray, he did so with his eyes wide open.

“I knew a lot of things about Middlesbrough and the job I would be taking on because I had to know,” he said. “I couldn’t say yes to sign here if I didn’t know the league, the club, the country and the culture. I had to know everything, and one year later, I know a lot more. But all the things that people told me have been confirmed.

“I knew the club because I was close to signing as a player here. I knew the area because at the time I almost came, I was speaking with (Gaizka) Mendieta and Geremi. I knew the biggest things, and after that Jose was also telling me a lot of things because (Mark) Schwarzer, the keeper at Chelsea, used to play here.

“When I had meetings with Steve (Gibson) and Neil (Bausor), they told me other things, and I put all the things in the balance and knew this would be right for me.”

Not, however, that it was an instant walk in the park. Three weeks after his first game, a 1-0 home defeat to Brighton plunged Boro back to within three places of the relegation zone, and it would be another month before Karanka first experienced life in the top half of the table.

“At the beginning, it was frustrating for me because the team was improving, even though the squad wasn’t the same quantity or quality like it is this season, but we were still making a lot of mistakes,” he said. “Gradually, we have fixed those mistakes and things have improved. Now, we still make some little mistakes, but the team is very consistent and they are working very well.”

All of which brings us to this weekend, and the possibility of Boro taking over top spot for the first time in Karanka’s reign.

Scaling the Championship summit would represent a powerful endorsement of Karanka’s work, although given his driven nature, it is hardly surprising that he would regard it as nothing more than a means to an end.

 “I am always wanting more,” he said. “It is a good moment at the moment because I can feel that the work is going well. But the day when I believe I am very, very good, will be the day that I am finished.

“We – and I always say we because there is a group of us that prepare the games and training sessions during a season – demand the best from each other all the time. If they (the other coaches) are improving, then they make me improve too. But the past is past. Everything has been going very well, but we have to win against Bournemouth. That is the only thing that matters right now.”